Although his lecture is somehow disorganized and kind confusing. He gives extremely useful practice test and you can really learn something from them. And remember do them carefully before the test. You will be thankful. Also, unlike other Professors, Patterson doesn't really focus on math, so don't worry about calculation . Understand concepts.
Very intuitive lectures for quantum mechanics, with hard homework and section problems that did prepare me for exams. TA were great as well!
Patterson is one of the best professors in the physics department. Although the homework is pretty difficult and long, he makes office hours accessible for anyone (so many TAs). Great guy and tries to make QM understandable, you can tell he really loves the subject. Make sure to understand all the homework and you'll be fine on the exams.
My favorite prof at UCSB. Go to office hours.
Dave Patterson may not be the best professor for theory classes but he is a fantastic experimentalist and the best lab professor you could possibly have. He has an incredibly strong understanding of experimental methods and error analysis and it is clear he loves the subject. He is easy to talk to and it has been a delight to be in his lab class.
Dave is a wonderful man, a brilliant physicist, and an inspiring professor. I took him spring '19 for Quantum Mechanics. He makes something as abstract as QM more accessible with wondrous analogies. He has a passion for his work, and cares about your understanding. Make an effort to discuss with him in office hours if you don't understand. 10/10
Patterson is a young professor, and 25 was the second class he ever taught in UCSB. Lectures were not great, in fact they were very confusing. Theres a lot of room for improvement, but looking on the bright side, he was very caring and helpful during outside of class and had a fair midterm, not too hard final and a decent curve.
He seems to have a strong knowledge of physics, but he is not a straightforward and put-together lecturer. His tests often involve things that were never covered in lecture or in the textbook. He is pretty good at answering questions, and he does try to explain best he can, but he says to refer to Feynman. You will have to learn a lot on your own.
Awful professor. His lectures are hard to follow and frequently make no sense. Halfway through the quarter he made attendance mandatory, but only mentioned it in lecture. His tests involve problems that he did not mention in lecture and that are not contained in the textbooks. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Just useless lectures. His explanations made no sense and were wrong very often, and our TA had to then re explain these concepts to us correctly. Probably the worst professor I've ever had.
Not at all organized or presents course material in a coherent way. Made some mistakes fundamental equations for like claiming there's a Pi in the momentum equation... I don't have an option but if you do, I don't recommend him at all.
Do not take any class with this professor if you value your education. His lectures are too scattered and inconsistent. The difficulty in the homework comes from the fact that nothing makes sense and that he doesn't understand grammar. On top of that you will not be tested on the stuff you practice in homework which is just absurd.